


Truth or Dare

by inatshej



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Vernon Boyd & Erica Reyes, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Derek Hale & Erica Reyes Friendship, F/M, Friends to Lovers, M/M, POV Derek Hale, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2018-08-22 09:38:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8281292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inatshej/pseuds/inatshej
Summary: 'Truth or dare?', he repeats, somewhat panicked. He remembers Stiles saying that Derek lacks openness to experience. Well, that may explain why he is not thrilled about the prospect, but, no, he actually can't play that. Now more than ever.





	

'Truth or dare?', he repeats, somewhat panicked. He remembers Stiles saying that Derek lacks openness to experience. Well, that may explain why he is not thrilled about the prospect, but, no, he actually _can't_ play that. Now more than ever.

'Yes', Erica smiles. It looks even more predatory than usually.

'I'm not playing that. It's stupid'.

'You're playing that, it's awesome'.

Derek wants to argue further, but he sees Lydia. She raises her eyebrows, and, okay, it won't do you any good to oppose her, but still.

'Uh -'.

'Come on, Derek, don't be such a killjoy, it will be fun!', Stiles calls from his room, where the rest of their group is already seated.

He grimaces, but it's no use. Stiles' smile melts all of his defences. Not that he is in love with him. After that many months spend together, just as friends, he came to love Stiles. That's the first reason not to play truth or dare.

He joins the others along with Erica.

'It will be okay', she winks at him.

He remembers at once how she kept talking to him during his first year of high school. At first he ignored her, afraid to change anything else in his life. But she would come back. She will never probably understand how much it meant to him to have a friend back then. How much it means for him to still have her as a friend, perhaps more than for her. Yeah, another reason not to play.

Erica sits down next to Boyd. Derek chooses perfect spot between her and Stiles.

Scott grins and spins the bottle in the middle. Derek arranges his strategy – no truth, only dares. He can't lose what he managed to get.

It's selfish, he supposes, that he still wants more, still wants to kiss Stiles and hold hands with him, considering how much he already has. Two years ago he'd never thought that he'd play truth or dare with his group of friends, drinking and joking.

He observes as the game enfolds, relieved it wasn't his turn yet. Scott dares Lydia, Lydia demands truth from Boyd, Boyd gives Stiles a dare, Stiles commands Erica to change the language in her phone to Chinese. Erica wants truth from Scott, Scott dares Stiles to act as someone from their group. It's actually easy, when all he says is 'I'm everybody's type' in low, confident voice.

Stiles spins the bottle and of course it stops to indicate Derek. Of fucking course.

'Truth or dare?'

No use for his strategy then. No, having a dare from Stiles never ends well. He will want to improve Derek's social skills or something.

'Truth', he answers. He will so regret it anyway.

'Which person in this room do you find most attractive?'.

Derek's mind empties at once. Okay, alright, need to focus. Obviously Stiles, but it can't be Stiles, so who's next? Scott. No. Just no. Allison. He'd make Scott his enemy. Lydia. She is beautiful, but way too terrifying. And she'd probably call him on a lie. Jackson. Jesus, no. Boyd. No, it's his friend. He could never -, just, no. Erica. No point straining friendship with Boyd.

_God._

'You', he blurts out.

_Oh God._

Stiles starts laughing hysterically, calling to Scott, 'His face! Look at his face! He is so freaked out!'.

Scott laughs as well, but next to him, Allison isn't quite sure how to react and settles for an unconvinced smile. Jackson frowns, Lydia as well, but she also watches Derek intently. Well, shit. He has no courage to check Erica's and Boyd's reaction.

'So, okay, everyone knows that Derek was lying, but his perfect evision technique left us all impressed', Stiles begins. 'Besides, how could I argue with such an answer?', he grins at Derek.

Lydia looks like she wants to say something, but seeing Derek's pleading look, she decides not to.

Derek demands truth from Jackson, Allison, who's next, also chooses truth, but Derek doesn't hear what they are saying, because Stiles whispers to him to reveal later who's Derek's crush. ( _I saw Lydia's face, Derek. Why does she know and I don't?_ ). Derek manages a weak smile in answer. _His crush_.

Allison dares Scott, and Stiles is focused on a game again. Scott dares Erica to eat a slice of bread with peanut butter, ham, and mayonnaise. Erica eats two, just to prove that she can. Derek wonders if there is anything like overopenness to experience. He wouldn't know, seeing as he is all kinds of closed.

'Truth or Dare?', she asks Derek when finished.

Back to the first strategy.

'Dare'.

Erica smiles slowly. This game was such a bad idea.

'I've always wanted to try this one thing...'.

A while later, Derek is positive his social life normally would be finished by now. He stands in Erica's clothes and begs silently for mercy. Stiles is lying on the floor, the laughing mess, just like apparently everyone else. Erica gleefully takes photos of him. It's kind of impressive, when all he can see are weird signs on her screen.

Still, this dare leaves the guys somewhat fearful and they want to finish the game. The girls are opposed, and the group settle for three more spins.

And Derek is the victim of the last one. The world is so unfair.

Lydia asks him, 'Truth or dare?', and this time he is quite sure he should choose the truth. Lydia wouldn't destroy his relationships on purpose, and a dare from her could be – well – it's just better not to test her after what Erica has thought up. Stiles grins at him almost maniacally and keeps telling him to choose dare, so there comes another one for truth.

'How long have you been in love with Stiles?'.

It's funny how few words can change atmosphere entirely. He is so surprised he doesn't realize he should turn it into a joke, laugh, or something, _anything_. Why would Lydia - ? Well, it doesn't matter. Stiles laughs a bit at first, which just hurts at this point, before turning to him.

Derek stands up and leaves.

While going back to his home he keeps thinking that they met on Saturday and he won't see anyone tomorrow. That, and Stiles' laugh. Dating Derek's so funny, who'd have thought – Jesus – _calm down, you have more than 24 hours to think of something._ He hears his phone buzzing, probably a text. He turns it off. He will take care of it tommorow.

On Monday morning he still hasn't thought of anything or activate his phone. He actually regrets having Sunday free of any contact with people, it just makes coming back to school that much harder.

He sees Boyd and averts his eyes. Erica is probably somewhere nearby, and she is great friends with Stiles. Actually, everyone's great friends with Stiles. That just leaves him alone, doesn't it?

Realization makes him all cold inside. Who'd have thought losing friends would hurt this much? He was completely alone two years ago, when Laura commited suicide and people had no idea how to behave around him anymore. But Erica came to him anyways, making him drop his almost anti-human defences, then Boyd appeared, and later Stiles talked to Derek, and so came his group of friends.

Just to disappear again.

Erica really didn't approach him.

Neither did Boyd, Scott, Allison, or Stiles.

What was he doing again on lunch breaks when he was alone? He looks for an empty spot somewhere at the back, with noone around.

However, five minutes later Jackson sits down at his table.

Derek looks at him, uncertain what that means.

'What, you pray before eating?', Jackson barks at him. But Jackson barks at everyone, well, except Lydia.

After a while she also comes.

Derek starts eating without more questions. He is still unsure what that situation implies, and what is expected of him, if anything. Before he can go to the next class, Jackson says one more thing: 'Stiles' such a dick'.

'No, you're both idiots', interjects Lydia coolly, looking at Derek. 'Stiles' just a bigger one than I thought'.

Derek offers them a half-smile and goes to his next class.

Sometimes days are just so fucking long. He sees Stiles on a corridor, just to watch him duck his face and turn around. He would almost laugh, that was so smooth, if it wasn't just sad.

He doesn't really remember the rest of the day.

The next one begins the same.

How many days like that does he have to go through? Doesn't matter, it's too many anyway. He wonders briefly if he should turn his phone on, but all the possible texts that cross his mind vary only in the depth of negativity, and he leaves his phone in his bag.

He sees Erica walking up to him and has no idea what to do. No, maybe she just goes this way, it doesn't-

'Derek!'

Okay, she does want to talk to him. Was speaking with her always this stressful? Stiles would make fun-, yeah, now he wouldn't.

'Derek, I'm so sorry! I had no idea it was like that! You shoud have told me, but, nevermind. I can't believe Boyd left you all alone, well, I heard that Jackson had shown his sensitive side, which sounds kind of disturbing, but yeah, I told Boyd just on how many levels it was wrong to leave you like that. You got my text, right? I was sick yesterday. Scott's fault, obviously'.

What was that phrase Stiles was using sometimes? _Mind-blown_. Yeah, that was it.

He sees Boyd approaching them.

Boyd looks at Derek just the same as always. No pity, no wariness, no uneasiness.

'I figured it would be best to leave you alone till you figure stuff out'.

Makes sense.

'Thanks'.

'Okay, so what's the plan?', asks Erica.

'The plan?'

'To conquer Stiles'.

'…I don't plan anything like that'.

'No way, Boyd and I will help you! You are our best friend, yeah? Just tell us what to do. We can make Stiles regret _everything_ , if that's what you prefer'.

He missed them. Really.

Having Erica and Boyd on his side makes it going through the same corridor as Scott so much more easier, when he gets subjected to a troubled glance.

When he gets home, he finally decides to open his phone. Erica was right, he got some messages from her. The first three are in Chinese, though, one of them contains a picture of him in her clothes. He huffs out a laugh. In the last one she confirms their friendship and says about missing one day of school. He kind of expected a message from Stiles besides that, but there is nothing. Well, what would Derek do if his friend suddenly declared his feelings? In a game of truth or dare, at that. That's pitiful, really. And he can't think of any good reaction. Probably a clear rejection, that's the least he could do.

Stiles will have to say something sooner or later, if not out of his own volition, under Scott and Allison's pressure, so for now he just have to wait.

Erica isn't pleased with Derek's decision.

'Pathetic', she sniffs at him.

Derek shrugs. Noone ever said being in love is cool. Actually, it's really not. Or maybe it's just him being afraid of opening up to even more new experiences, new situations.

And so he waits.

After a week, he kind of gives up on ever again having the same easy friendship with Stiles. It's weird, having such a large part of his life suddenly vanished. He finds out he has more time and decides to read some books Stiles recommended to him before, uh, everything. _Sad, but still valuable,_ he keeps telling himself. He wakes up, checks his phone expecting to see a silly text from Stiles, just to find his inbox empty. He drags out taking his stuff from the locker, waiting for Stiles to finally show up. He realizes something funny and wants to share it with Stiles, except, yeah, he can't really do that. He doesn't really see much of Stiles in school, and when he does, he appears busy or lost in his thoughts.

He wonders about pros and cons of their current situaton ( _more time, but more angst_ ) and the one before Saturday ( _more friends, but more pining_ ), mindlessly taking an apple and going to the table where Erica is already sitting, just to find out that Stiles' also there. Derek freezes. Somewhat panicked, he looks around, but can't find any other seats nearby. He either has to go even further and pass next to Stiles, _and_ risk passing him again like a loser when he can't find a free table at the back, or turn around and leave.

He actually more or less runs away. Being in love is seriously making him all kinds of pathetic.

Once on a corridor, he turns just to see Stiles coming after him. Jesus, he is not ready for that conversation yet. He speeds up.

'Derek, wait up!', Stiles calls behind him. Students passing by watch them curiously.

What a drama. Seriously.

He stops and turns, managing a blank face and inwardly going through all possible scenarios. They all start with Stiles saying 'sorry' and finish with Derek getting turned down. He remembers Lydia and how she seemed pretty sure they will end up together. Lydia doesn't make mistakes, but, you know, first time for everything.

'Sorry', Stiles begins.

_Wow._

Derek feels kind of sick. He went through that thousand times in his head, yet hearing the actual word is entirely different. Turns out he still had hope.

Something must have shown on his face, or maybe Stiles just knows him that well, because he starts again:

'No, I mean, not like that. Well, not exactly like _that_ either, uh, just, let me say what I had in my head earlier', he says on one breath. Derek waits.

'Okay, so, I don't remember what exactly I had in my head earlier, but it doesn't matter! Because, I've been thinking. Ever since the Saturday. Last week. Like, how do I know that you're serious? Are you sure you actually love me?'

'...Stiles, I-'.

'No, wait, let me finish. So, also, I thought, what's the difference between friendship and love, and tried to ask Scott, well, this plan failed, so I started reading. I spent all that time reading either psychological books or stuff on the Internet. Um, Internet wasn't that helpful. And, yeah, I can't be sure, but what you feel is probably love, and what I feel to you is, uh, I don't know, but probably also that?... It sounds so stupid, I know, but I can't really describe it differently, and I don't know any other feeling which would make me be like that. Like I'm so pathetic'.

Derek huffs out a small laugh.

'That's exactly what I thought earlier', he says, 'that love makes you pathetic'.

'I know, right?'.

And suddenly they are talking again. Stiles describes what he'd learnt, Derek shares his own experiences, remember Stiles' recommended books, so they discuss them, Stiles says he got a bunch of texts in Chinese from Erica ever since his dare. Derek realizes that he probaby underestimated his friendship with her.

They laugh and Stiles, so damn kissable, looks at him. Derek averts his eyes. It's still somewhat awkward between them.

'I'm not sure I want to go out with you like that. What I mean is, I'm afraid you'll treat it like a dare, like you're just curious'.

'I'm really not, Derek'.

They stay silent for a while.

'Derek, look at me. You'll never be completely sure of what I feel, but neither can I be sure of your confession during a game, where alcohol was present'.

Derek forces himself to look up. Breathes in.

'I meant it. I love you, Stiles', he says softly.

'And I love you, Derek. Just, believe me for a while, okay? And I will believe you'.

Derek nods. Somehow, Stiles is even closer now.

And then they kiss. At first it's shy, delicate, but Stiles opens up to Derek, touching his neck.

Derek ends it.

'Was that... okay?', he asks. Like an idiot.

'More than okay', Stiles smiles at him.

'Even, you know, here?'

'On a school corridor, where our friends are watching us behind your back?'

'They are watching us -'

'Yeah'.

'I really don't want to face them now'.

'Me neither'.

'Especially Lydia. She will be all like-'

'Stiles' such an idiot, I was obviously right?'

'Yeah, that.'

'Well, she _was_ right'.

'You're too generous'.

'I like you, Derek, you know that?'

'Yeah? Let's stay here and you can tell me something more'.

'I like that plan'.

They smile at each other again, and this time they are both like idiots. Derek kisses him again, and it's just sweet.

'So... are you okay like that?'.

'Yeah. Believe me for a while, remember?'

'Yeah', smiles Derek. Maybe it's really worth it sometimes to open for new experience and play truth or dare, dare yourself to properly confess, and agree, even with all uncertainties, to be something more.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if you liked the story. I'm just beginning to write fanfics. Plus, English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for any mistakes. But most of all, thank you for reading!


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